Drain And Gain: The Cocktail That Could Melt Fat And Build Muscle

James Bond's signature drink could hold the key to his physique
- by
MH Staff

15 Feb
2018

Casino Royale

James Bond’s enviable swimshort body could be attributed to many things. The high-kilojoule expenditure delivered by fighting atop moving trains, perhaps. Or maybe the core activation required to expertly manoeuvre a jetpack. But while we’re sure all of these factors contribute, new research suggests it could also be down to his famous choice of cocktail – at least, in part.

According to Italy’s University of Palermo, your martini’s sidekick, the humble olive, can take you one step closer to your beach-body goals. For the research, healthy volunteers were asked to eat 12 green olives every day for a month. At the end of the study, subjects saw their body fat decrease by an average 1.5kg, while muscle mass went up by almost 1kg. Researchers say this could be due to conjugated linoleic acid, a type of fat found in olives and olive oil, which has been shown to have a beneficial effect on metabolism.

The fruit is also a great source of copper – another nutrient which has recently been linked to fat loss by scientists from the University of California, Berkeley. Now clearly we’re not suggesting you pair each one of your olives with a complementary sharpener. (Bond’s indefatigable liver, it seems, is truly his greatest weapon.) But should thirst hit as you’re passing the pool bar, a blend of dry vermouth and gin is certainly a leaner alternative to most sunshine cocktails. And a damn sight cooler. So order with impunity – and consider your fat shaken and your muscles stirred.